


usque ad mortem fidus

by nantes (titians)



Series: memes with pretentious titles [2]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-03-16 18:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3498428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titians/pseuds/nantes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bunch of Greek pantheon-centric prompt fills from Tumblr and the Alternate Universe meme, including Hera as empress of the Byzantine empire, Hades at the storming of the Bastille, and Apollo and Hermes in a nightclub sometime in the 1980s.</p><p>
  <em><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/972449">Again</a>, you're welcome.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Apollo/Hermes in the Roaring '20s

He’s pretty sure he has forgotten what it is like not to be love with Apollo; to not be enthralled with Paris in the rain; to not delight in Apollo’s smile above the lip of a Martini glass; to not adore the sound of Porter’s latest work as Aphrodite flirts with Ares and Hera in too many strings of pearls flags down a waiter for another bottle of Cognac.

Paris adores them all and in return Apollo adores it, spinning line after line of prose about world weary gent falling in love with every beautiful girl he sees on the other side of the milliner’s shop window.

But above all, Hermes adores Apollo and that shines brightest of all.


	2. Zeus/Hera in Tsarist Russia

The coup is bloodless but ends in a mess all the same — they dispose of one fool and put another one in his place. With a sigh Poseidon looks at his brother, just looks at him smiling and golden on his new throne and feels nothing but aching pity for all of Russia.

Looking at his new wife however, Tsaritsa Hera Kronosovna, and Poseidon sees where the true power lies.


	3. Persephone/Hades (+ Hecate) in the Roman Republic

There is an orchard on the edge of the city, where trees heavy with fruit bend towards the ground like an old woman hunched under aching strain and age — it is there Hecate meets Persephone, always has and always will, sitting beneath a tree and squinting up at the white, bright light of the sun high in the sky. The day is hot and Persephone is glowing, two of the most irritating things to Hecate, so she goads, leads into conversation with, “So, you do love him then?” to which Persephone thinks:

_Yes, I must._


	4. Apollo/Hermes in the 1980s

Hermes talks a lot with his hands when he’s trying to flirt, a ridiculous trait but one Apollo finds endearingly amusing as he watches him crash and burn with to some pretty redhead (she’s more Apollo’s type than Hermes but Apollo thinks he’s trying to prove a point tonight, or something).

Turning away with a sighed out laugh and a shake of his head, he orders another two beers from Hephaestus behind the bar as the song around them changes into Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot with no transition at all — _Who is this DJ?_ he thinks to himself.

Aphrodite slides into the free space beside him, snatching the second bottle away from him — she can have it, Hermes can buy his own — and asks with a nod in Hermes direction, “Should you go and save him or should I?


	5. Apollo/Hera in the Byzantine Empire

After war, after carnage there always comes the spoils, Hera knows this for she has been a spoil of war before; she is no longer a woman but a prize, the pretty thing who came alongside the crown of a kingdom cleansed and reborn in gold and blood. Once, she relished in the idea and sat proudly as the greatest treasure in all of Constantinople, with her husband the beaming, adoring Zeus beside her.

But during peace spoils lose their shine, husbands’ eyes wander, and the cracks begin to show in the city as the blood and gold washes away, and Hera quickly decides the crown she came with should be hers alone (before they come for her head, to try and replace her with another) — she fucks her husband one last time before she slits his throat and decides:

_I’ll marry Apollo in a month._


	6. Hades/Persephone in the French Revolution

The prison is burning, the governor’s head is on a pike, a gunshot has rid them of the mayor, and Persephone kisses a handsome stranger, tall, dark and with a gash from a bayonet across his cheek because she is alive and Paris now belongs to the people.

She doesn’t care what his name is or who is parents are, just that he is there and they have the same beliefs — this is a revolution and they are both a part of it. She laughs, her dirty fingers clutching his collar, and leans in to kiss him again, slowly enough that he is able to breathe out a soft ‘mon dieu’ before her lips touch his and for now, as Paris bows down to the people, it is everything.


	7. Ares/Aphrodite in a College AU

Artemis and Hera always say she could do better than Ares — Hera could also do better than Zeus herself, but she seems to know it as well so Aphrodite can’t exactly turn around and say it to her which sucks — but Aphrodite generally chooses to ignore them. Mostly she fobs her friends off with a wave of her hand and a smile, saying, “The heart wants what the heart wants,” but tonight, when Hera says it and beside her Artemis nods, Aphrodite sighs and has to agree.

She’s not gonna do anything about it though, since her only other option at the moment — seeing as Apollo and Hermes are back on again, whoop-de-fucking-doo! — is Hephastus… and Aphrodite knows if her friends are saying she can do better than Ares, she can definitely do fucking better than Hephastus.


	8. Hades/Persephone in Ireland during the Civil War

Hades is a street and a half away from the courts when the first bomb goes off and immediately he thinks ‘Hera, the twins’, his feet moving him towards the quay before his brain fully catches up. There’s smoke everywhere, clouds of chalky dust rising up into the air, and all around him people are running — he only stops because he crashes into someone, this waif of a thing who shouldn’t stop him in his tracks but he skids to a halt with his hands on her shoulders and his ears ringing from the explosion.

She looks at him for a moment as Hades blinks once, twice, then remembers why he was running; he takes her hand and goes, “C’mon,” pulling her after him as the second bomb explodes.


	9. Hades/Persephone in a Long Distance Relationship

Hades is nothing at all like Zeus. If anything, he’s more like his twin sister (although where Hades is sharp, Hera is sharper, more bristling around the edges and quick to anger while Hades lets his pain seep into every pore and wears it with a frown of malcontent) but sometimes Persephone can’t help but worry that when he is not with her, her husband may stray; Zeus does it to Hera and he hung the very stars in the sky to make her smile.

If someone who claims to love someone else like that can do it, then why would Hades not do it to her?

But he never does (or he hides it better than Zeus, which Persephone doesn’t think is true at all, or at least enough to not bother thinking about it), his face too happy and full of promise every autumn when she returns down to the pit of the Underworld to see him again.

He is always bathed in green and grime and still, Persephone would take that and the simple honesty of his quiet affection over even one of the stars in the heavens.


	10. Hades/Persephone in a Meeting Online AU

He knows he shouldn’t but he types the comment all the same, just to see what she’ll say. Unsurprisingly, she rises to the bait and calls him an asshole — alright, what she actually says has a lot more flair than just plain old ‘u r an asshole’ but it’s the general gist of the thing.

Hades smirks at the screen, catching his reflection, and thinks about what to say next.

It takes another three reblogs before she — at least, Hades thinks it’s a girl, but he can never truly tell on tumblr — messages him and calls him an asshole there as well. He doesn’t bother posting it, since it’s through Hera’s blog anyway, and logs off for the evening.

He has mostly forgotten about it by the morning when Hera corners him next to the fridge and demands to know why _springandskeletons_ has called her an asshole in such an artful way.

Hades just shrugs.


	11. Circe/Poseidon after the Odyssey

She throws the chalice into the water without thinking it through, just fires it so hard that her shoulder aches from the recoil of it, but she already has her back the ocean before she gives the pain a second thought.

Poseidon announces his arrival with a push of the tide, soaking up the beach and to the hem of Circe’s skirt – daughter of a titan or not, Circe knows she should show a little more respect but her belly is too full of wine (and her heart to heavy with Odysseus’ leaving, but the wine is helping her to ignore that) for her to trust her own knees; they have known one another for centuries anyway.

He smiles, and offers her the chalice back, “I believe this is yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i care about circe/poseidon more than i care about a lot of things tbh. also: hello again to this previously finished a year ago mythology prompt response collection.


End file.
